Let's see... how depressing is this?
1. "For Valentine’s Day, Try Being Nice to Yourself/Sending love to others is easy. Being kind to yourself can be surprisingly difficult." This piece was originally published on Valentine's Day, 2019, so only the choice to resurrect it reflects the dreary spirit of 3-year-old Covid.
Use this short test developed by Dr. Neff to gain a snapshot of your own level of self-compassion. If you score low, commit to learning some self-compassion practices.... "You deserve your care and attention... Treat yourself to a delicious meal, a good book, a nice walk with a lovely view. As you would invest in the person you love, so you should invest in yourself."
2. "The Unbearable Heaviness of Clutter/A cluttered home can be a stressful home, researchers are learning." Another piece from 2019. Remember, pre-Covid, when clutter was the great plague? I can see from my Marie Kondo tag that I still blogged about her up through the end of 2020, so I guess staying at home in Year 1 overlapped with the exciting passion for de-cluttering. But it didn't carry over to Year 2, so is it ready for a comeback in Year 3? Instead of finding love out in the real world, we're supposed to keep staying home and putting ourselves — see #1, supra — and our homes in good order? Or maybe that relationship you think you want can be analogized to household clutter:
Dr. Saxbe agreed that a good way to declutter is to keep items out of the house in the first place. She urged shoppers to consider whether they truly need an item or if it will add to their home’s sense of dysfunction. “Once it’s in the house, it’s really hard to deal with. You get attached to the things you own,” she said.
Once it’s in the house, it’s really hard to deal with — see what I mean?
3. Now, why is my eyelid twitching? This is an article from last December, and I can only think that the reason for re-elevating this issue on Valentine's Day weekend is to direct your attention away from that other body part that normally gets the attention — the heart. Why does my heart ache? No no no, why does your eyelid twitch?
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18 comments:
Looks like one of those scammy clickbait ads. The only thing missing is a gross toenail pic or maybe some earwax.
I tend to think that the second item, particularly the "don't buy it in the first place" bit, is along the lines of when the NYT tries to convince us that we should take a staycation this year - everybody's doing it; it's the new Grand Tour! Or, have we yet experienced the insect protein revolution? It's not just good for the planet, it's delicious!
Making a virtue of what they see as a socialist necessity, that is. Inflation is cutting into our buying power - therefore we must be convinced that buying itself is bad, so we won't resent the fact of it.
From some other sources, I might entertain the idea that they were actually reporting news. From the NYT, since all such stories go the same way, I immediately dismiss their effort as "how can we help Biden (in this case) look better?"
My eyelid twitches because I’m stressed from living in a cluttered home and I don’t like myself for not doing anything about it.
Breezy said...
My eyelid twitches because I’m stressed from living in a cluttered home and I don’t like myself for not doing anything about it.
Very good, Breezy.
Maybe your eyelid would twitch more if you were faced with the need to declutter. It can be very stressful for those inclined to hoard, even mildly so.
The heart is a lonely punter…
I got crossed up with “how Valentine’s Day looks at the NYT”
For an instant I thought Valentine had a thing for the NYT.
Treat yourself to a delicious meal, a good book, a nice walk with a lovely view, or spend an afternoon in your ice shanty with a lovely fishhooker.
Make yourself feed bad about yourself and insecure.
‘They’ have a solution! Unfortunately, you don’t realize that it’s subscription based.
I suppose it depends on one’s temperament, but I find it much harder to love others more than myself.
Enjoy your cats, NYT ladies…
@Lem
Thanks. I didn't notice that ambiguity. Will tweak the wording.
Whenever my wife's eye starts twitching, I know what she's thinking: Why did I let that man into my house, maybe its time to declutter....
This is what the aristocracy wants for you.
They are trying to reshape our culture, divide us, and break down our social bonds.
Then it will be easier to control us.
Little Fidel is cracking down on the truckers.
President poopy pants told him to.
We must live in a really stressful household. When we run out of room to store stuff, we just build or buy more. Hopefully, I will finish my 2,000 sq ft garage/office/storage building in MT this summer. 400 ft² of dedicated new storage, and if that isn’t enough, another 400 ft². Plus garage space for another up to 4 regular vehicles (3 if one is an RV). In AZ, we are closing off the porch, giving us another 200 ft² of living space. Need a shed on the side for the screens, hoses, etc, since the garage is already overflowing. Currently, our 3 car garage currently fits just one vehicle, but that will hopefully open up to two when we get the patio furniture and grill moved to the backyard, that we just finished. I walk the dog a lot through the neighborhood, and see many of the neighbors’ garages. Mostly, I see white walls and room for two vehicles, even in those houses with 3 car garages. Young people. Then you walk by ours, and it is stuffed to the brim, with racks 7’ high on one wall for luggage, boxes, etc, and the entirety of the opposite wall covered to about the 9’ level with my sci-fi/fantasy paperback book collection. Too many clothes for the closets? Upstairs has 9’ ceilings, which allows me to put in a second rod in several of the closets, above the regular one. Similarly, the hall closet wraps under the stairs, and that gave me room for a couple more rods. Probably one more if I need it.
With that much clutter, we should both be nervous wrecks. Nope. Stressful would be getting rid of something that I need later. Now what was stressful was when my new son-in-law visited over Christmas, and started questioning me about why I needed this or that in my shop. Why the drill press? So I can make perfectly vertical holes. Duh! Things go together better that way. Why such a big vice? Because it has an extra axis of rotation. Etc. My guess is that he was eyeing the job of ultimately getting rid of all our stuff when we are gone. And, they are out right now in the Denver area market desperately trying to buy their first house. They desperately want a 3rd bedroom, but those are going the day of listing. They have little in terms of stuff that they need room to store, because they are at the opposite end of this, living in rental properties up until now.
I see a lot of articles on this 'self-care' thing. Our law firm is constantly sending me emails reminding me to 'self-care'. Biggest law firm in Seattle yet they hire people smart enough to realize some lazy downtime and a nice meal is good for the soul.
I am struck more by how obvious the advice is. Can anyone ELI5 why so many people need to be told this?
re-elevating this issue on Valentine's Day weekend is to direct your attention away from that other body part that normally gets the attention — the heart.
Thank goodness. I thought they were referring to another body part that twitches. IYKWIMAITTYD
I see the self care article is illustrated with what I learned today to call the globohomo style. Flat, generic and without identity.
We must live in a really stressful household. When we run out of room to store stuff, we just build or buy more. Hopefully, I will finish my 2,000 sq ft garage/office/storage building in MT this summer. 400 ft² of dedicated new storage, and if that isn’t enough, another 400 ft². Plus garage space for another up to 4 regular vehicles (3 if one is an RV). In AZ, we are closing off the porch, giving us another 200 ft² of living space. Need a shed on the side for the screens, hoses, etc, since the garage is already overflowing. Currently, our 3 car garage currently fits just one vehicle, but that will hopefully open up to two when we get the patio furniture and grill moved to the backyard, that we just finished. I walk the dog a lot through the neighborhood, and see many of the neighbors’ garages. Mostly, I see white walls and room for two vehicles, even in those houses with 3 car garages. Young people. Then you walk by ours, and it is stuffed to the brim, with racks 7’ high on one wall for luggage, boxes, etc, and the entirety of the opposite wall covered to about the 9’ level with my sci-fi/fantasy paperback book collection. Too many clothes for the closets? Upstairs has 9’ ceilings, which allows me to put in a second rod in several of the closets, above the regular one. Similarly, the hall closet wraps under the stairs, and that gave me room for a couple more rods. Probably one more if I need it.
With that much clutter, we should both be nervous wrecks. Nope. Stressful would be getting rid of something that I need later. Now what was stressful was when my new son-in-law visited over Christmas, and started questioning me about why I needed this or that in my shop. Why the drill press? So I can make perfectly vertical holes. Duh! Things go together better that way. Why such a big vice? Because it has an extra axis of rotation. Etc. My guess is that he was eyeing the job of ultimately getting rid of all our stuff when we are gone. And, they are out right now in the Denver area market desperately trying to buy their first house. They desperately want a 3rd bedroom, but those are going the day of listing. They have little in terms of stuff that they need room to store, because they are at the opposite end of this, living in rental properties up until now.
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